CALENDAR ACTIVITIES

  April 18 - 23, 2011  

April 18

Paul Revere began his famous midnight ride in 1775.

Through the study of Paul Revere, students learn about primary source documents while researching their family histories, with which they create and compare their family trees.

 

The son of a French immigrant, Paul Revere worked as a gold- and silversmith for more than 40 years in Boston, Massachusetts. In the years before the revolution, Revere gathered intelligence information by "watching the Movements of British soldiers," as he wrote in a personal account of his ride. Although he was joined by William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott, it is Paul Revere who is generally remembered for making this historic midnight ride.

http://www.americanrevolution.org/revere.html

April 20

Celebrate author Mary Hoffman's birthday today.

Students write original picture books based on their own aspirations and dreams and share with the class or with younger students.

  Mary Hoffman, author of the Amazing Grace book series, was born in England in 1945. Hoffman has authored more than 80 children's books, including the Stravaganza series of fantasy novels for young adults, several story collections, as well as a number of nonfiction titles for children and adults. Stravaganza: City of Masks was on the New York Public Library's 2003 Stuff for the Teen Age list.

April 21

Barbara Park, author of the Junie B. Jones series, was born on this day.

Students write their own "Junie B." stories, based on the Junie B. Jones series, after brainstorming issues they've experienced during the school year.

 

Barbara Park is the author of over two dozen Junie B. Jones books, as well as several stories for older readers including My Mother Got Married and Other Disasters, Skinnybones, and Mick Harte Was Here. Park's books have earned a number of awards, including many children's choice and parents' choice award lists. Titles in the Junie B. Jones series continue to appear on bestseller lists.

April 22

Celebrate Earth Day!

In celebration of Earth Day, students research famous environmentalists and write letters to them asking for their opinions on current issues and turn their letters into a poem.

 

Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day in 1970. In the same year, Denis Hayes coordinated the first Earth Day in the United States. As a result of Earth Day, many environmental laws were passed and the Environmental Protection Agency was created.

April 23

In 1564, William Shakespeare was born on this day.

Based on grade level, students learn about rhyming structure, experiment with the Shakespearean Insult Kit, or study scenes from Othello and watch an adaptation of that scene from the movie O.

William Shakespeare is the most widely taught playwright in the English language. By 1588, Shakespeare had left his wife and children to live in London as an actor. During the next ten years, he became a successful playwright, performing for the royal court and building a new theater called the Globe. He retired to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616, where he died soon after. Since that time, few young students of English literature have not heard the line, "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?"





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HOMEWORK FOR THURSDAY 14th

What is Musical Theatre?

Musical theatre is defined as the presentation of a story using the elements of music, singing, dancing, on a stage in front of a live audience. This art of telling stories either through or with songs dates back to time immemorial. The ancient Greeks included music and dance in many of their stage comedies and tragedies as early as the 5th Century B.C. Staged in open-air amphitheatres, these plays featured humor, political and social satire, jugglers, and anything else that might entertain the masses. While these plays had no direct effect on the development of musical theatre as we know it, they prove that musicals have been around for at least 2500 years.

*WRITE 3 FEATURES ABOUT MUSICAL THEATRE (1)

History of Musical Theatre

The origins of the musical trace all the way back to story telling ballads. The ballads were stories in songs, passed down orally from generation to generation. In 1597, Dafne, the first opera emerged. Like ballads, opera told stories through music. However, opera is written down and performed on stage. And from opera, the operetta, literally meaning “little opera”, developed. Relative to its predecessor, operettas dealt with less serious topics and used more dialogue.

Finally, in 1866, the very first musical, The Black Crook by Charles M. Barras and Giuseppe Operti, was performed in New York. However, American musical theatre did not establish its own identity until after the turn of the twentieth century.

George M. Cohan--librettist, lyricist, and composer, was a powerful influence in creating a truly native musical art form, his dialogue, lyrics, and melody had the spirit of energy and pride that were unmistakably American. Any plot, however improbable, was possible just so long as it could be the frame for songs and dances. For many years, American musicals were governed by this principle.

The greatest revolution in American musical theatre up to that time came in 1927 with Show Boat, by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern. The show featured popular music, such as jazz and gospel, which parated Show Boat from both operetta and all the musicals before it.

 Then came the first of the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterworks, Oklahoma!, in 1943, with which musical theatre finally became a significant American art form. According to Rodgers, “By opening the show with the woman alone onstage and the cowboy beginning his song offstage, we did more than set a mood; we were, in fact, warning the audience, 'Watch out! This is a different kind of musical.” The national tour of Oklahoma! ran for an unprecedented ten years, playing before a combined audience of more than ten million people. In 1955, Oklahoma! was made into a film where it also found great success.

During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, popular music began to change with rock ‘n roll becoming more mainstream. This trend influenced musicals such as West Side Story (1957) and Bye Bye Birdie (1960) to feature more popular, contemporary music. Hair in 1968 continued this movement by incorporating rock music and storylines based on the hearts of the younger generation.

And setting a pattern that would redefine Broadway, Cats premiered in 1982, introducing opulent sets, extravagant costumes and makeup, and over-the-top special effects. The visual spectacle was unlike the painted backdrops and simple costumes seen in the past. Cats has now become the longest-running show in Broadway history.

Then came Rent in 1996, which revolutionized the very concept of musical theatre around the world. Rent blended pop, dance, salsa, rhythm and blues, gospel, and rock music together to tell its moving tale of hopes and dreams, while also addressing the serious and controversial issues of homelessness, AIDS, and drug addiction. Rent not only challenged the mainstream, but reinvented it. Shows following Rent such as Ragtime (1998) and Wicked (2003) also contained intricate storylines and unique styles of music, while addressing social and political issues.

*MAKE A TIME LINE ABOUT HISTORY OF MUSICAL THEATRE (15 cm OF WIDTH), SEND IT TO MY OFFICE BEFORE 6:00 pm.